The 4th Marine Division spent extra time in training as they would depart the United States direct for a landing on an opposed shore. They sailed from California in January 1944. Their destination: Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The attack was codenamed Operation FLINTLOCK, and began on January 31, 1944.

As part of 3/24 Marines, Sorenson landed on the Namur portion of Kwajalein’s Roi-Namur island on February 1. The next day, with victory for the Americans in sight, the Japanese defenders launched desperate counterattacks that if they wouldn’t repel the invaders, they’d cause as much damage as possible.

Sorenson sought cover in a shell hole with five other Marines during one such counterattack. When a Japanese grenade landed in their midst, he selflessly covered the weapon with his own body absorb its blast and save the lives of his five comrades. Miraculously, and largely thanks to quick first aid rendered to him by a Navy Corpsman who tied off a severed artery and stabilized his other massive wounds, Sorenson survived the grenade explosion, and lived to receive the Medal of Honor he so assuredly deserved.

mail order acyclovir SORENSON, RICHARD KEITHgo sitesource link Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 4th Marine Division Place and date: Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll Marshall Islands, 1-2 February 1944Entered service at: MinnesotaCitation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with an assault battalion attached to the 4th Marine Division during the battle of Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, on 1-2 February 1944. Putting up a brave defense against a particularly violent counterattack by the enemy during invasion operations, Pvt. Sorenson and 5 other marines occupying a shellhole were endangered by a Japanese grenade thrown into their midst. Unhesitatingly, and with complete disregard for his own safety, Pvt. Sorenson hurled himself upon the deadly weapon, heroically taking the full impact of the explosion. As a result of his gallant action, he was severely wounded, but the lives of his comrades were saved. His great personal valor and exceptional spirit of self-sacrifice in the face of almost certain death were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

Sorenson endured six surgeries over nine months during his recovery. He learned that he would receive the Medal from the commander of the Seattle Naval Hospital, Captain Joel T. Boone, himself a Medal of Honor recipient for World War I.

He remained in the Marine Reserves after the war, was eventually commissioned as an officer, and was recalled to active service during the Korean War, although he served entirely in stateside roles and did not see further action. As a civilian, Sorenson worked in insurance but also spent many years working with the Veterans Administration (today the Department of Veterans Affairs), retiring in 1978 as the Director of veterans’ services for Nevada and several California counties.

The 24th Marine Regiment was deactivated in September 2013 as part of the restructuring of the 4th Marine Division. The Marines of the 24th’s 3rd Battalion were assimilated into the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines. Their headquarters, as reservists, are in St. Louis, Missouri.

"[I]f we fail, then the whole world,…all that we have known and cared for…will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that…men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'” — Winston S. Churchill, June 18, 1940